CERN – European Organization for Nuclear ResearchIT Department – e–Business Section

Automating Business Processes @ CERN

Jurgen De Jonghe,GS-AIS CERN

Based on a presentation from Nicolas Décrevel, Rostislav Titov

CERNe–Business

CERN

2500 Staff 8000 visiting scientists 500 universities 80 nationalities Half the world’s particle physicists

CERNe–Business

Best of breed vs integrated suite

Package

Needs

NeedsNeeds

Needs

Needs

MissingNot needed

Package

Package

Package

Needs Needs

Needs

Needs Needs

Needs

Interfaces

Interfaces

Integrated Suite “Best of Breed”

CERN Choice: Best of Breed– Buy best solution for each business unit– We manage the integration & customizations– We provide transparent layer for end-users

CERNe–Business

Best of Breed ApplicationsFinance/Purchasing

– Qualiac• Qualiac finance

– General ledger– Accounts Payable– Accounts Receivable (Team invoicing)

• Qualiac purchasing– Contracts– Purchase order management– Goods reception

• 145 active users• 720’000 accounting entries, 35’000 purchase orders, 47’000

invoices, 14’000 team invoices per year;

CERNe–Business

Best of Breed Applications Logistics

– BAAN• Stores management, Replenishment, Sales• 50 registered users• 55’000 sales orders/146’000 order lines per year• 6’500 purchase orders/22’000 order lines per year

CERNe–Business

Best of Breed Applications HR

– Oracle HR• 115 registered users, • 50'000 database operations on 5'500

personal files per month• 150’000 persons registered in database

– E-recruitment

– HR*Access:• Payroll: 3’800 salaries per month

CERNe–Business

In-house development Where market availability doesn’t meet CERN

needs AND there is a strong business case

Examples– Workflow and electronic

document handling– HR & Financial Reporting– Contract Management– Activity Planning & Collaborative project management– EVM: Earned Value Management– (Maintenance) Intervention Management Planning &

Safety

CERNe–Business

Overview of applications

CERNe–Business

EDH

Electronic Document Handling @ CERN

CERNe–Business

Electronic Document Handling

o Self-Service Requests: creation, validation, routing, authorization and archiving

o Automates most CERN business-processes

o 1st version in 1992, Web-based since 1998

CERNe–Business

Purchasing through EDH

Demande d’Achat Interne– Purchase from any external supplier– ~35% of all purchases

Demande de Matériel– Purchase from CERN Stores (>50’000 items)– Purchase from selected suppliers via B2B

(Business-to-business) scheme

CERNe–Business

Paper Purchase Order

CERNe–Business

Purchasing Process Support

Order

Approbation d'une réception (EDH)

Invoice

Goods

Payment

$

Accounting Reception

Request

Transfer

Purchasing

Commande (EDH)

Authorisation

CERNe–Business

Demande de Matériel

CERNe–Business

Workflow in Action

CERNe–Business

Workflow in Action

CERNe–Business

Workflow in Action

CERNe–Business

Workflow in Action

********

CERNe–Business

Workflow in Action

AlreadyApproved

CERNe–Business

Workflow in Action

XML

Order

CERNe–Business

Workflow in Action

CERNe–Business

Closing the loop for Budget Holders…

CERNe–Business

EDH Workflow

Philosophy : Minimum Number of Signatures Maximum Level of Delegation Required signatures MUST be obtained Non-blocking signatures

– EDH will search for delegates in case of absence or timeouts

Idea is to get a document through the system from start to finish as quickly as possible : Streamlined Electronic Procedures

EDH is NOT a negotiating/decision aiding tool

CERNe–Business

Workflow Engine

EDH Workflow is a commercial product– Based on BPEL standard (but about to

migrate to BPMN in the near future)We use ActiveVOS

– Visual workflow design– Robust server with a good track record– Process versioning

CERNe–Business

Workflow Design IDE

CERNe–Business

How EDH helps meet the Challenge

Reduce costs Increase efficiency

Maintain control

Streamline processes Increase productivity Empower workforce

Reduce costs Increase efficiency

Maintain control

Streamline processes Increase productivity Empower workforce

At least 40 FTE saved Reuse – cloning 93% < 24h, 71% < 30min < Admin, > Core activities Delegation of rights Enforcing business rules

(Budget, Safety)

CERNe–Business

Reduced delays (1 → 2 instead of 8→14 days)

Increased productivity– No duplicate data entry, Cloning– Transparency & Traceability

Lean Authorization:– Absence handling – Roles based + Delegation – Escalation

Zero paper (environment friendly!)

Benefits

CERNe–Business

EDH Statistics (documents/month)

CERNe–Business

EDH Statistics (signatures/month)

CERNe–Business

Damned Lies?

CERNe–Business

Thank You

Rostislav.Titov@cern.chNicolas.Decrevel@cern.chJurgen.De.Jonghe@cern.ch

For More Information

CERNe–Business

Workflow

TransferPrograms

EDH Desktop

EDH BaseClasses

EDHDocuments

FoundationInterface

Catalog

SignatureRights

JVMTools

Common Business Objects

EDH

CERNe–Business

BPEL Engines EvaluationDesigner Links in

designerXPATH tools

Open source

Java based Halt on fault and retry

Debugging Process versioning

Web based tools

Active BPEL

Oracle BPEL

IBM WebSphere

PXE

Cape Clear

Parasoft BPEL Maestro

Vergil VCAB

Twister / Agila BPEL

IT Pearl

BEA Weblogic workshop

Supported Partly supported Not supported

CERNe–Business

Front-End EDH ArchitectureCERN-made, Java onlyReusable input objects1-2 months to develop

a new processHighly available (multiple Java VMs)

DatabaseServerClient

Computer ApplicationServer

ApplicationServer

CERNe–Business

Security

HTTPS all data encrypted Both MD5 and 1024-bit RSA

encryption for electronic signature